Angela Tomaski’s debut novel takes readers on a tour of an English manor in decline

Summary

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NPR's Book of the Day: Angela Tomaski’s Debut Novel, The Infamous Gilberts

Date: February 2, 2026
Host: Andrew Limbong (intro), Scott Simon (interview)
Guest: Angela Tomaski
Episode Theme: Exploring family, memory, and decay through the lens of an English manor’s decline in Angela Tomaski’s debut novel, The Infamous Gilberts.

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Episode Overview

This episode features Angela Tomaski discussing her debut novel, The Infamous Gilberts, with NPR’s Scott Simon. The conversation delves into the dynamics of a crumbling English family, the symbolism of a decaying mansion, and Tomaski’s personal connection to her story—particularly around the theme of growing up without a father. Listeners are offered insights into the genesis of the novel, the lives of its characters, and the ways everyday objects anchor memories and meaning.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Novelist and Her Novel: Setting the Scene

• Thornwalk House: Once-mighty English mansion at the center of the Winford Gilbert family's decline. Now being turned into a hotel, the family’s personal artifacts become relics of the past.

  • (01:27) D: “Thornwalk House is a mighty English mansion of the Winford Gilbert family that has been sold and will be turned into a hotel... What will become of them and the stories they tell about the people who once lived there?”

• Maximus, the Narrator: The reader’s guide through the house and its stories, intimately connected to the family and balancing the narrative’s darkness with compassion.

  • (02:10) C: “Maximus takes the reader on a tour of this house and… he knows all their secrets, all their stories. So I think there’s quite a bit of darkness in the story. And because of the, the love he has for them, I think it sort of balances that darkness.”

Family Dynamics: Absence and Impact

• Fatherless Childhood: The five Gilbert children are left “to their own devices,” with no maternal compensation for their father’s absence.

  • (02:37) C: “Well, there’s no father... the mother is unable to sort of compensate for that absence. So, yes, they are left without really the tools that they need to go forward.”

• Hugo’s Burden: The eldest son, Hugo, returns from war traumatized and is forced into a patriarchal role he’s ill-equipped for, mirroring the estate's decay.

  • *(02:57) C: “He wants to save people and when he’s unable to do, the darkness sort of comes out.”
  • (03:31) C: “The decay of Thornwalk... the disintegration… of traditional family structures, traditional power structures. So this family is falling apart and Hugo is unable to hold it together. So, yes, he disintegrates, you know, with it.”

The Power of Objects: Genesis of the Novel

• Inspiration: A visit to Tintsfield, a real neo-Gothic mansion, left Tomaski mesmerized by a “vivid link to the past”—a baron’s bed, a bar of soap, slippers—that were later removed, erasing their stories.
  • (04:00) C: “I saw the bed in which the sort of reclusive last baron was said to have died... the smell of a little tablet of coal tar, soap and a pair of slippers under the bed... that vivid link to the past obviously was lost. So that was what put in mind this idea of the importance of these objects.”

Vulnerability and the Father’s Role

• Annabelle’s Story: A fire on the library rug signals Annabelle’s vulnerability due to a health condition, underscoring the subtle dangers in fatherless homes.
  • (05:03) C: “Annabelle is having a sort of blackout and she can’t see the fire... with the absence of the father for her, you know, she is then damaged in a way that wouldn’t have happened had someone been there to sort of protect her.”

Personal Resonance

• Author's Lived Experience: Tomaski relates the novel to her own loss, having grown up without a father since age nine.

  • (05:54) C: “This was the story that’s been in me for a long time… all the issues that we see in the Gilberts, you know, I’ve experienced myself to some extent, you know, so. Yes, I know.”

• Writing as Catharsis:

  • (06:22) C: “Cathartic, yes, absolutely. And it’s strange, but it feels better not just to write it, but to be heard. For people, to be reading it, to be able to share it with people, is like a weight has been lifted somehow.”

Life Experience & Influences

• Empathy Born from Work: Tomaski reflects on her time as waitress, cleaner, English teacher, and activity coordinator in a care home, drawing from these roles a deep sense of the beauty and vulnerability of ordinary people.
  • (06:51) C: “Just people, I suppose. Ordinary people. The care home, particularly, was wonderful. Seeing people at their most vulnerable, really, and open and finding such beauty and at such precious moments.”
  • (07:27) C: “Yes, and beautiful human lives... I was very open to forming sort of friendships with these people... And I did grieve when they died, you know.”

Memorable Quote and Closing Reflection

• Haunting Metaphor:
  • (08:22) D: “I’m really struck by a line toward the end of your novel where you say, narrator says we are all the ruins of castles.”
  • (08:22) C: “Yeah. It’s my, it’s just very strange because it’s my favorite line... These are ordinary people with ordinary issues… when a person dies, it’s a castle that crumbles, you know, there are no unimportant people. We’re all the ruins of castles once mighty.”

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Notable Quotes

• Angela Tomaski (on objects and memory, 04:00):

  “Just that the smell of the soap and something that he had held and the things that are important to us and that do hold meaning. So I wanted to tell a story in the form of a tour, using objects like that that seem inconsequential but actually hold a lot of meaning.”

• Angela Tomaski (on loss and resilience, 05:54):

  “This was the story that’s been in me for a long time… all the issues that we see in the Gilberts, you know, I’ve experienced myself to some extent, you know, so. Yes, I know.”

• Angela Tomaski (on everyone’s importance, 08:22):

  “There are no unimportant people. We’re all the ruins of castles once mighty. And when we have to fall, you...”

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Important Timestamps

• 00:02-00:49: Intro and setup of episode theme.
• 01:27: Description of Thornwalk House and introduction of Angela Tomaski.
• 02:10-03:55: Family structure, Maximus' role, Hugo's sacrifice, parallels between home and character decay.
• 04:00: Inspiration behind the novel and the significance of objects.
• 05:03-05:51: Annabelle’s vulnerability and the consequences of fatherly absence.
• 05:54-06:35: Tomaski reflects on writing from personal experience and healing through storytelling.
• 06:46-07:27: Tomaski discusses what working in care homes taught her as a writer.
• 08:22: Discussion of the line “we are all the ruins of castles” and its significance.

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Summary

Angela Tomaski’s conversation with Scott Simon offers listeners a haunting yet moving look at The Infamous Gilberts. Set amid the fading grandeur of an English manor and broken family lines, Tomaski masterfully weaves together themes of memory, vulnerability, the significance of everyday objects, and the silent burdens children bear in the absence of parental support. Drawing deeply from her own life and her work with ordinary people in vulnerable contexts, Tomaski uses her debut novel to elevate the stories of the “ruins of castles”—the people that history might otherwise leave behind.

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Transcript

[A]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. A home isn't just four walls, a roof and a place to hang your hat. It's a symbol. It holds the meaning of all your successes and failures. Or at least it can if your home is the center of a literary fiction novel about a crumbling family dynasty adrift without its patriarch. Angela Tomaski is on the pod today talking about her debut novel, the infamous Gilbert's. It's about an old English mansion on the precipice of being sold and the decaying objects within it. Tamaski's been living without her own father for years now. And in this interview with npr, Scott Simon, she talks about how this book was a 20 year process in sorting her feelings out and how she feels now that it's out there. That's coming up.

[B]

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[D]

Thornwalk House is a mighty English mansion of the Winford Gilbert family that has been sold and will be turned into a hotel. So there is a last tour of the objects inside and around the decaying gothic building. The empty bed, a bump in the lawn, the shadow of the taxidermied moose head. What will become of them and the stories they tell about the people who once lived there. The Infamous Gilberts is Angela Tomasky's debut novel. She has held a variety of jobs which we will ask her about. She joins us now from the studios of the BBC in London. Thanks so much for being with us.

[C]

Thank you so much for having me.

[D]

And tell us please, about our tour guide, Maximus.

[C]

Maximus takes the reader on a tour of this house and he's someone who loves the family deeply. He knows all their secrets, all their stories. So I think there's quite a bit of darkness in the story. And because of the, the love he has for them, I think it sort of balances that darkness.

[D]

Yeah. Five children, Lydia, Hugo, Annabelle, Jeremy and Rosalind. As children, they're pretty much left to their own Devices, aren't they? Why?

[C]

Well, there's no father, so the father is absent and the mother is unable to sort of compensate for that absence. So, yes, they are left without really the tools that they need to go forward.

[D]

And tell us about Hugo. The eldest son comes back a changed young man from the war, doesn't he?

[C]

He does. So he's obviously scarred by his experiences, but I think for me, the bigger issue is the fact that he has a role to fill. And because there is no father there, he has to take on, you know, far too much responsibility from an early age. And he's unable to do that. He's not equipped for me, he was a sort of thwarted hero. He wants to save people and when he's unable to do, the darkness sort of comes out.

[D]

Are we right to see Hugo's challenges to be of a piece with the desiccated condition of Thornwalk?

[C]

Yes. I mean, the decay of Thornwalk, it's that this idea of the disintegration, I suppose, of traditional family structures, traditional power structures. So this family is falling apart and Hugo is unable to hold it together. So, yes, he disintegrates, you know, with it. He refuses to leave it. The two sort of decay together.

[D]

What put this house in mind for you as a vehicle by which to tell stories?

[C]

In 2002, there's this beautiful magnificent neo Gothic mansion called Tintsfield, near Bristol. And I went on a tour of that house just after it was acquired by the National Trust. The sort of. The last owner had died there and I saw the bed in. In which the sort of reclusive last baron was said to have died. And it was such a powerful sort of scene. I remember the smell of a little tablet of coal tar, soap and a pair of slippers under the bed. And when I went back on a tour later, the bed had been removed, the soap, the slippers, everything had gone. And that vivid link to the past obviously was lost. So that was what put in mind this idea of the importance of these objects. Just that the smell of the soap and something that he had held and the things that are important to us and that do hold meaning. So I wanted to tell a story in the form of a tour, using objects like that that seem inconsequential but actually hold a lot of meaning.

[D]

Can you tell us, without giving away too much about the burn on the library rug?

[C]

What happens is that there's a fire. A spark lands on the rug and sets it alight. And Annabelle is having a sort of blackout and she can't see the fire. So this signals to the reader the fact that Annabel has a sort of medical condition, that she has some sort of challenges which make her vulnerable. So with the absence of the father for her, you know, she is then damaged in a way that wouldn't have happened had someone been there to sort of protect her. And I think in life, for me personally, and things I've seen in people around me, when you don't have a father there to protect you, it seems like a simple thing, but people do treat you slightly differently. You're almost like a little bit of a sitting, you know, and she was vulnerable to certain forces that wanted her to be a little bit different, to sort of normalize her.

[D]

Do you know what it's like to grow up without a father?

[C]

I do. Yes, I do. And this was the story that's been in me for a long time. You sort of, you know, 20 years thinking about the Gilberts and how they might tell the story. But, you know, obviously my whole life, you know, you know, since the age of nine, feeling I had something to say about this. And, yeah, all the issues that we see in the Gilberts, you know, I've experienced myself to some extent, you know, so. Yes, I know.

[D]

Does it make it painful or cathartic or a little of both to write about in a novel?

[C]

Cathartic, yes, absolutely. And it's strange, but it feels better not just to write it, but to be heard. For people, to be reading it, to be able to share it with people, is like a weight has been lifted somehow.

[D]

Oh, good. Your bio says you have been, I'm going to quote now, a waitress, cleaner, English teacher and activity coordinator in a care home.

[C]

Yes.

[D]

What did you learn from each of those jobs that you might call on now to become a novelist?

[C]

Just people, I suppose. Ordinary people. The care home, particularly was wonderful. Seeing people at their most vulnerable, really, and open and finding such beauty and at such precious moments. I think I never would have worked in a care home if I hadn't been sort of, you know, desperate for money. It's a difficult job for someone who's actually quite introverted, you know, leading singing sessions and things like that. It's not my normal sort of thing, but it's one of the best things I've. I've ever done. And I look back on it with. I just feel really grateful to have done it.

[D]

Sounds like it opened a lot of human lives to you.

[C]

Yes, and beautiful human lives. And at the time, I didn't know. I was very open to it. So I'd lived, you know, I'd been working from home for a long time, and I just needed an extra job, a little bit of extra money. But I'd been quite isolated. So I was very open to forming sort of friendships with these people, sort of forming relationships, perhaps too much, really. And it was only in a training session sort of 18 months later, they said, remember, you're not meant to be their friend. And I put up my hand and queried this because I thought you were, as an activity coordinator, meant to sort of form this sort of bond. But of course, it's a professional relationship. Of course it is, and it stands to reason. But I think they meant so much to me and I did grieve when they died, you know.

[D]

Yeah. I'm really struck by a line toward the end of your novel where you say, narrator says we are all the ruins of castles.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. It's my, it's just very strange because it's my favorite line because this beautiful gothic mansion, even though it inspired the book, you know, it is really rather, it's sort of incidental. These are ordinary people with ordinary issues, you know, And I just wanted this beautiful gothic mansion as, as a sort of frame to them, to elevate them, to signal how important these people are as, as we all are. You know, all our stories are important. And that this idea that when a person dies, it's a castle that crumbles, you know, there are no unimportant people. We're all the ruins of castles once mighty. And when we have to fall, you.

[D]

Know, Angela Tomasky's debut novel, the Infamous Gilbert. So good to have you. Thank you very much for being with us.

[C]

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

[B]

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